Rating: 
Summary: "She's flown the coop."
Review: Paul (Francois Cluzet) and Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) Prieur own and manage a lakeside hotel--a romantic place with an idyllic location that appeals to lovers. Paul is under a great deal of strain--the hotel is a tremendous financial burden, and every time Paul turns his back for a moment, Nelly seems to be running off to town on some shopping spree or another. Paul begins to suspect that his beautiful wife may be having an affair with a local car mechanic, and Paul's jealousy pushes him over the edge into madness.
Emmanuelle Beart is one of the most beautiful actresses in French cinema. Unfortunately this often translates to roles in which Beart is a face only. In Claude Chabrol's "L'Enfer" however, Beart is allowed to act, and she does so beautifully. When the film begins, she is the somewhat indulged wife--she dresses provocatively with plunging necklines and mini-skirts. When Paul objects to her absences or suspicious stories, she reacts playfully, making faces before she flounces off. The role of Nelly allows Beart to show her acting range, and during the course of the film she deteriorates from a giddy girl to a pathetically withdrawn terrified woman. Nelly is one of Beart's best roles. Francois Cluzet is excellent as the suffocating husband who feels impotent in the face of his wife's desirability.
Many professional critics call Chabrol, the 'French Hitchcock' and it's easy to see why in "L'Enfer." The setting of the film is an excellent choice. After all, Nelly and Paul's marriage is semi-public property. Neither of them can sneeze without one of the guests observing it. Paul and Nelly are stuck in this haven of relaxation, but underneath the surface, festering tension is ready to explode. "L'Enfer" seems like a simple story of an abusive husband who becomes consumed with jealousy. Jealousy indeed is a monster, for the more Paul feeds it, the hungrier it becomes. Nelly appears innocent--but is she? Chabrol toys with various possibilities here, and the surreal ending leaves even more questions. Fans of French cinema should enjoy the film, and find much to speculate about long after the final scene--displacedhuman
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the price of DVD
Review: Reality, or fantasy is the immediate question posed in Claude Chabrol's L'Enfer. The man who carries the mantel the"French Hitchcock" Chabrol delivers a taut, bare to the bones thriller.When husband Paul (Francois Cluzet) begins to believe his beautiful, flirtatious wife Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is fooling around, his psychological demise is quick, and intense. Chabrol brings us the story primarily from Paul's point of view, leaving many of the ambiguities, as well as the uncertainties of this tale to our own imagination. From a script of Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages of Fear) written in 1964, Chabrol updates the original (Clouzot never finished his version due to failing health, he died in 1977) giving it the contemporary setting and dialogue, but maintaining a style of presentation consistent with the thrillers of that era. I love this early exchange: Nelly: "You're following me, Paul." Paul: "Why would I, is there any reason?" Nelly: "No, but if you keep it up, there will be." Emmanuelle Beart shows why she is one of the world's great stars. American audiences have yet to have the best of Beart, who's English speaking debut (Mission:Impossible) seemed uneven, almost clumsy. But here she delivers on all cylinders: a beautiful seductress. Calculating? Unfaithful? We'll see. Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: A man¿s own personal hell¿.
Review: Reality, or fantasy is the immediate question posed in Claude Chabrol's L'Enfer. The man who carries the mantel the"French Hitchcock" Chabrol delivers a taut, bare to the bones thriller. When husband Paul (Francois Cluzet) begins to believe his beautiful, flirtatious wife Nelly (Emmanuelle Beart) is fooling around, his psychological demise is quick, and intense. Chabrol brings us the story primarily from Paul's point of view, leaving many of the ambiguities, as well as the uncertainties of this tale to our own imagination. From a script of Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique, Wages of Fear) written in 1964, Chabrol updates the original (Clouzot never finished his version due to failing health, he died in 1977) giving it the contemporary setting and dialogue, but maintaining a style of presentation consistent with the thrillers of that era. I love this early exchange: Nelly:"You're following me, Paul." Paul: "Why would I, is there any reason?" Nelly:"No, but if you keep it up, there will be." Emmanuelle Beart shows why she is one of the world's great stars. American audiences have yet to have the best of Beart, who's English speaking debut (Mission:Impossible) seemed uneven, almost clumsy. But here she delivers on all cylinders: a beautiful seductress. Calculating? Unfaithful? We'll see. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A choice piece of Cinematic presentation
Review: The film: "What a horrible little film Claude Chabrol has made!" [I translate loosely.] The French reviews must have gone something like this. When the critics of Cahiers du Cinema gave the nod of approval to an "auteur", it was nearly impossible for him to fall from grace. In re-watching "l'Enfer", I can at least speak for myself in saying that he wrote himself off of the list of directors in whom I place some trust... and into the shadowy realm of "has-been"s. I would be surprised if the critics felt differently. Why do I despise this film so intensely? First and foremost, none of it is in the least bit original... or believable. Paul and Nelly meet one afternoon at his newly purchased hotel, as by chance. He looks her over, clowns around a bit, etc. Flash forward to wedding. And so on. There is no relationship developed between the two, nor any reason for their love to exist at all. I can forgive one such transgression in the first five minutes of a film, but come on! I mean... to call this plot Swiss cheese does cows everywhere a helluva disservice! Paul's reasons for doubting his wife's fidelity are based on loose, circumstantial evidence, yet, somehow, this kind father and doting husband slips into a personal hell of his own creation: INSANE jealousy! Is Chabrol kidding with this crap? I can't believe that this is the same director who gave us such an honest, compelling vision of psychosis 25 years earlier in "Les Bonnes Femmes". What could have happened over that time for to have regressed to creating this imbecilic, one-sided portrait of obsession that is nearly as silly a cautionary tale as "Reefer Madness". It is almost pointless to evaluate the performances of the cast, given the poor quality of the script (not to mention editing that manifestly shows that Chabrol's cinematic "language" never made it out of the 1960s)... but I will. Emmanuelle Beart is superb, as she usually is, as a bouncy, innocently flirtacious young wife and later as a battered, defeated prisoner of the evil Paul. Her talents are utterly wasted here, for, as one of the garage mechanics said in Stephen King's "Christine", "You can't polish a turd." Francois Cluzet delivers an over-the-top Paul that ranks up there with Eric Roberts' performance in "Star 80" (though not nearly as convincing.) Sure, he's got ample reason to be insecure... but the dizzying heights to which he carries his all-consuming distrust simply aren't warranted by the scanty clues of his cuckolding. The rest of the cast are fine in their nearly invisible roles. Final words on the film: If this is supposed to be "mature" work, it is little wonder that Chabrol has been excluded from winning nearly every major award. I am frankly shocked that the great Clouzot wrote the majority of this screenplay. I'd like to think that Chabrol's adaptation is at fault, but perhaps there was a reason that Clouzot never shot it. In sum, the only "hell" is sitting through this mindless exercise in misogyny. The DVD: Possibly the worst transfer in my 1000+ DVD collection. Here are some general adjectives: dull, muted, washed out, grainy, pixellated (wish I'd been when I was watching it!), dark... and riddled with artifacts, flashes and even skips! No... not just DVD skips, of which there were plenty, but ACTUAL GAPS IN THE FILM! What kinda busted, to' up print did Fox Lorber use for this transfer? It looks worse than the VHS. I even have a suspicion that a VHS tape was the source, and an over-rented one at that. Oh... and let me hurl one last insult at this disgraceful, cocktail coaster of a DVD: When I said "dark" before, I meant that the night scenes were so black at times that my television threatened to collapse on itself and suck me through a black hole in to the land of bad cinema. But, no worries... I got there on foot by the end of the film! My verdict: A must-not see. A waste of money. I'd be afraid to sell this kind of garbage on eBay and would pity the fool who'd buy it (as I foolishly did.) I'm tempted to write out the 101 best uses for this DVD, though I'd exceed Amazon's 1000 word limit. The bottom line is... If you like Claude Chabrol, see "Les Biches" or "Les Bonnes Femmes" or "Le Boucher"... or nearly any of his pre-1970 films. If you like Emmanuelle Beart, see "Manon des Souces" or "La Belle Noiseuse" (and by the way... If you want to see her in the nude, you're out of luck in "l'Enfer", you dirty rascal!) And if you like Francois Cluzet, I seriously question whether you recognize good acting, despite the fact that he's appeared in several solid films. [Question: Do you also think that Jean-Pierre Leaud was a fine performer after "The 400 Blows", when he "learned" to "act", simply because he starred in "Porcile" and "Last Tango in Paris"?] I'm going to sprinkle myself with holy water after this abomination and turn in for the night. If you choose to buy this film, heedless of my words, you may want to invite your local exorcist over to watch it with you.
Rating: 
Summary: This don't Be-art
Review: The film: "What a horrible little film Claude Chabrol has made!" [I translate loosely.] The French reviews must have gone something like this. When the critics of Cahiers du Cinema gave the nod of approval to an "auteur", it was nearly impossible for him to fall from grace. In re-watching "l'Enfer", I can at least speak for myself in saying that he wrote himself off of the list of directors in whom I place some trust... and into the shadowy realm of "has-been"s. I would be surprised if the critics felt differently. Why do I despise this film so intensely? First and foremost, none of it is in the least bit original... or believable. Paul and Nelly meet one afternoon at his newly purchased hotel, as by chance. He looks her over, clowns around a bit, etc. Flash forward to wedding. And so on. There is no relationship developed between the two, nor any reason for their love to exist at all. I can forgive one such transgression in the first five minutes of a film, but come on! I mean... to call this plot Swiss cheese does cows everywhere a helluva disservice! Paul's reasons for doubting his wife's fidelity are based on loose, circumstantial evidence, yet, somehow, this kind father and doting husband slips into a personal hell of his own creation: INSANE jealousy! Is Chabrol kidding with this crap? I can't believe that this is the same director who gave us such an honest, compelling vision of psychosis 25 years earlier in "Les Bonnes Femmes". What could have happened over that time for to have regressed to creating this imbecilic, one-sided portrait of obsession that is nearly as silly a cautionary tale as "Reefer Madness". It is almost pointless to evaluate the performances of the cast, given the poor quality of the script (not to mention editing that manifestly shows that Chabrol's cinematic "language" never made it out of the 1960s)... but I will. Emmanuelle Beart is superb, as she usually is, as a bouncy, innocently flirtacious young wife and later as a battered, defeated prisoner of the evil Paul. Her talents are utterly wasted here, for, as one of the garage mechanics said in Stephen King's "Christine", "You can't polish a turd." Francois Cluzet delivers an over-the-top Paul that ranks up there with Eric Roberts' performance in "Star 80" (though not nearly as convincing.) Sure, he's got ample reason to be insecure... but the dizzying heights to which he carries his all-consuming distrust simply aren't warranted by the scanty clues of his cuckolding. The rest of the cast are fine in their nearly invisible roles. Final words on the film: If this is supposed to be "mature" work, it is little wonder that Chabrol has been excluded from winning nearly every major award. I am frankly shocked that the great Clouzot wrote the majority of this screenplay. I'd like to think that Chabrol's adaptation is at fault, but perhaps there was a reason that Clouzot never shot it. In sum, the only "hell" is sitting through this mindless exercise in misogyny. The DVD: Possibly the worst transfer in my 1000+ DVD collection. Here are some general adjectives: dull, muted, washed out, grainy, pixellated (wish I'd been when I was watching it!), dark... and riddled with artifacts, flashes and even skips! No... not just DVD skips, of which there were plenty, but ACTUAL GAPS IN THE FILM! What kinda busted, to' up print did Fox Lorber use for this transfer? It looks worse than the VHS. I even have a suspicion that a VHS tape was the source, and an over-rented one at that. Oh... and let me hurl one last insult at this disgraceful, cocktail coaster of a DVD: When I said "dark" before, I meant that the night scenes were so black at times that my television threatened to collapse on itself and suck me through a black hole in to the land of bad cinema. But, no worries... I got there on foot by the end of the film! My verdict: A must-not see. A waste of money. I'd be afraid to sell this kind of garbage on eBay and would pity the fool who'd buy it (as I foolishly did.) I'm tempted to write out the 101 best uses for this DVD, though I'd exceed Amazon's 1000 word limit. The bottom line is... If you like Claude Chabrol, see "Les Biches" or "Les Bonnes Femmes" or "Le Boucher"... or nearly any of his pre-1970 films. If you like Emmanuelle Beart, see "Manon des Souces" or "La Belle Noiseuse" (and by the way... If you want to see her in the nude, you're out of luck in "l'Enfer", you dirty rascal!) And if you like Francois Cluzet, I seriously question whether you recognize good acting, despite the fact that he's appeared in several solid films. [Question: Do you also think that Jean-Pierre Leaud was a fine performer after "The 400 Blows", when he "learned" to "act", simply because he starred in "Porcile" and "Last Tango in Paris"?] I'm going to sprinkle myself with holy water after this abomination and turn in for the night. If you choose to buy this film, heedless of my words, you may want to invite your local exorcist over to watch it with you.
Rating:
Summary: A choice piece of Cinematic presentation
Review: This is a wonderful piece of work. It makes you tingle they way in which jealosy is portrayed as a person living in fear, anger and desperation. The iterview and commentary from the the director was also profound. One of the best films I've ever seen.
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